Canada takes down U.S. in Olympic women’s hockey showdown

Canada’s women’s hockey team is going into the playoffs at the Beijing Winter Olympics on an emotional high.

The Canadians downed their arch-rivals from the United States 4-2 late Monday night to finish the round-robin with a 4-0 record. The Americans finished at 3-1.

The U.S. is the defending Olympic champion, having beaten Canada in the final at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang.

In Monday’s game, Brianne Jenner (Oakville, Ont.) scored twice for the Canadians, who got singles from Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, Ont.) and Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que). Saskatoon’s Emily Clark was held off the scoresheet.

Canada scored first, but the Americans scored two straight to take the lead. The Canadians then scored three unanswered goals, including Poulin’s short-handed goal on a penalty shot — the first penalty-shot tally in Olympic women’s hockey history.

Ann-Renee Desbiens (La Malbaie, Que.) stood tall in Canada’s net, stopping 51 of 53 shots.

Next up for Canada is a quarterfinal match against Sweden, which finished third in Pool B.

Alpine skiing: James Crawford (Toronto) finished sixth in the men’s giant slalom, with Trevor Philp (Calgary) 10th.

Broderick Thompson (Whistler, B.C.) and Brodie Seger (North Vancouver, B.C.) didn’t complete their runs.

Biathlon: Scott Gow (Calgary) was fifth in the men’s individual 20-kilometre race, Canada’s best finish ever in the event.

It also matched the top finish by a Canadian man in an Olympic biathlon; Jean-Philippe Le Guellec finished fifth in the 10km sprint at the 2014 Games in Sochi.

Christian Gow (Calgary) was 24th on Tuesday, while Adam Runnalls (Calgary) was 33rd and Jules Burnotte (Sherbrooke, Que.) placed 36th.

Cross-country skiing: Dahria Beatty (Whitehorse, Yukon) was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the women’s sprint free.

Cendrine Brown (Saint-Jerome, Que.), Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (Morin Heights, Que.) and Laura Leclair (Chelsea, Que.) all were eliminated in qualifying.

Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.), Olivier Leveille (Sherbrooke, Que.) and Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.) were eliminated from the men’s sprint free in qualifying.

Figure skating: Keegan Messing (Girdwood, Alaska) was ninth in the men’s short program. Roman Sadovsky (Vaughan, Ont.) finished 29th.

Freestyle skiing: Megan Oldham (Parry Sound, Ont.) finished fourth in the women’s big air final, missing the podium by 4.50 points.

Olivia Asselin (Lac Beauport, Que.) was eighth in the final.

Luge: Trinity Ellis (Pemberton, B.C.) was 14th after the fourth and final run Tuesday. Natalie Corless (Whistler, B.C.) finished 16th, one spot ahead of Makena Hodgson (Calgary).

Snowboard: Megan Farrell (Richmond Hill, Ont.) was eliminated in qualifying in women’s parallel giant slalom.

Kaylie Buck (Oakville, Ont.) was knocked out in the elimination runs.

Jules Lefebvre (Montreal), Arnaud Gaudet (Montcalm, Que.) and Sebastien Beaulieu (St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que.) didn’t make it out of the first round in the men’s event.

Speed skating: Connor Howe (Canmore, Alta.) finished fifth in the men’s 1,500m, missing a medal by 0.62 seconds.

Tyson Langelaar (Winnipeg) was 22nd and Antoine Gelinas-Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, Que.) placed 23rd.